Matt

You’ll gain in-depth insight and conclude gaining muscle with bodyweight training is possible, providing you follow muscle building principles, which hold true for weights, machines, and bodyweight workouts alike. As always, I want to provide maximum value in exchange for your visit and subsequent exploring of ‘Gaining muscle with bodyweight training: calisthenics vs weights‘. Answering the blog title requires an in-depth article, ensuring a comprehensive overview is effectively delivered to you. What Is Bodyweight Training? Let’s start with the glaringly obvious: Bodyweight training (also known as calisthenics) utilises your own body to provide a muscle building stimulus and adaptation response. Calisthenics vs Weights: 4 Key Differences 1) Equipment Requirement 2) Progressive Overload Bodyweight training progression involves modifying exercises to harder variations or changing leverage (e.g., normal to one-handed push-ups).Weight training is generally more straightforward by increasing the amount of weight lifted with good form. 3) Joint Stress Bodyweight training generally places less strain on joints and is often accepted as safer for long-term joint health.Weight training can place significant stress on joints, especially with improper form or excessive weights, increasing the risk of injury. 4) Muscle Isolation vs Compound Movements Weight training, in addition to multi-joint compound exercises, utilises isolation training, enabling targeted muscle growth and strength development. Bodyweight training focuses on compound movements that engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. A History of Calisthenics Let’s start with a shocking fact. Your local Gold’s Gym, Fitness First, or whatever your gym is called, didn’t exist during ancient times. Our modern era has relegated strength and fitness to recreation for the majority and a profession for the minority. Ancient Calisthenics Physical strength was crucial to our ancient ancestors. Being stronger, faster, and fitter was crucial to surviving an enemy onslaught on the battlefield. In order to get stronger, our Spartan warrior couldn’t stroll into his local gym for a Monday chest and arms session, followed by a sauna and a creatine-spiked protein shake. Nope, our fierce friend was required to utilise another method to get strong… Calisthenics is derived from the Greek word ‘Kalos’, meaning beauty, and ‘sthenos’, meaning strength. Greek warriors performed basic push-ups and sit-ups to increase strength for battle. Gaining muscle with bodyweight training was a literal life-or-death endeavour. Moving to Asia, Chinese martial artists incorporated bodyweight workouts to build muscle, flexibility, and strength. To this day, Shaolin Monks display impressive bodyweight and general resilience feats. The Roman army heavily emphasised physical training within its ranks. Strict training regimes of bodyweight workouts, running, and jumping were performed daily. The Romans were aware that peak physical condition was essential for military campaign success. India developed various bodyweight workouts that survived in popularity to this day. Perhaps you’ve heard of yoga? Yes, the plank and downward-facing dog have existed for thousands of years. The Renaissance and Beyond The focus on bodyweight training continued as the world meandered into the Renaissance, particularly for the militaries of the world. During this period, various anatomy studies, including those by Leonardo da Vinci, highlighted the importance of strength and physical fitness. In the 18th and 19th centuries, bodyweight gymnastics grew in popularity and became incorporated into physical education programs. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (the father of modern gymnastics) founded the German Turnverein Movement. This movement emphasised the importance of physical fitness and included a variety of bodyweight exercises, such as pull-ups, push-ups, and bodyweight squats as part of its training regime. Modern Bodyweight Training To this day, bodyweight workouts are a staple of military units worldwide. They’re used as selection test criteria and throughout a soldier’s career. Bodyweight training is also heavily utilised by the world’s elite special forces units. Why? Because they work and can be performed in most situations with very little equipment. The latter part of the 20th century and early 21st century witnessed the resurgence of calisthenics workouts. CrossFit heavily utilises bodyweight workouts, and mainstream gyms have been capitalising on their popularity. Gaining muscle with bodyweight training is very much in! Basic Muscle Building Principles It’s essential you simplify muscle building to understand how bodyweight workouts build muscle. The below blog sections will deliver more clarity once the basics have been refreshed. Muscle Building Growth Simplified A fantastic method of causing mass confusion is to complicate a relatively basic subject (take getting abs as an example, good article on this here) and blow people away with large sentences filled to the brim with complex-sounding words. This can add false credibility to a whole bunch of rubbish and make the calisthenics vs weights subject more convoluted than reality. I mostly attempt to adhere to the following rule: “If you can’t explain it for a two-year-old brain, you don’t understand the subject well enough.” So, here’s a basic muscle-building growth explanation: Keeping this section as a homage to simplification, I’m drawing this part to a premature close. This is muscle growth in a nutshell. The physiological process of muscle building remains constant, regardless of whether calisthenics or weights have triggered muscle fibre damage. Remember, the body understands overload and tension! Whether it’s delivered from bodyweight training, free weights, or lifting bricks, it’s irrelevant! Always simplify questionable logic, and you’ll become deception-proof within this sometimes shark-infested fitness game. The Truth Shall Set Us Free: Calisthenics vs Weights Armed with the above basic muscle building principles, we can stipulate whether calisthenics vs free weights is better for muscle building. Here’s the answer: Both calisthenics and weights are equally as good or bad for muscle building. Whatever method of strength training you utilise, if you train hard enough to damage the muscle fibres and correctly fuel up and rest, congratulations—you’ve triggered muscle growth! If you didn’t, try again next time! Here’s the section you requested, titled Calisthenics vs Weights: What the Science Says: Calisthenics vs Weights – What the Science Says When comparing calisthenics to weight training, scientific research shows that both methods can be equally effective for building muscle, provided that progressive overload is applied. According to a study published in the Journal of Strength … Read more

As we age, our bodies don’t respond to the same exercises in the same way. The risk of injury goes up, recovery takes longer, and the pressure to stay strong can feel more intense than ever. But staying in shape after 40 doesn’t mean sticking to the same old routines—especially when they involve risky exercises like the bench press, squat, or deadlift. You’ve probably heard the common fitness advice: if you want to build serious muscle, you must stick to the “Big 3” lifts. But that’s not necessarily the case—especially for men over 40. With the right approach, you can achieve strength and muscle without risking injury. Welcome to the “Strength Without Sacrifice” philosophy—where joint health, longevity, and functional fitness take priority over ego-driven lifts like the bench press and deadlift. Why You Shouldn’t Bench Press and the History of the Big 3 Lifts The bench press, deadlift, and squat have long been considered essential exercises for anyone looking to build serious muscle. Known as the Big 3 lifts, they’ve been used by bodybuilders, athletes, and powerlifters for decades. But just because these exercises are iconic doesn’t mean they’re ideal for everyone—especially men over 40. Why you shouldn’t bench press? The bench press, for example, puts tremendous strain on the shoulders, a joint particularly vulnerable to injury as you age. Historically, the Big 3 lifts gained popularity in the mid-20th century as bodybuilding and powerlifting became more mainstream. However, the fitness needs of a man in his 20s or 30s aren’t the same as a man in his 40s. It’s time to rethink their place in your routine. Squats The squat is one of the oldest and most fundamental human movements. Its origins as a formal exercise can be traced back to ancient civilisations, where physical fitness was an integral part of daily life and military training. The squat gained prominence in the modern fitness world during the 20th century, largely through the influence of weightlifting and bodybuilding. The squat was popularised by early strength athletes like Milo of Croton, a 6th-century BC wrestler known for his extraordinary feats of strength. Legend has it that Milo walked daily with a newborn calf, which eventually grew into a bull. As the calf grew, so did Milo’s strength, offering perhaps one of the earliest examples of progressive overload. In the 1950s and 1960s, powerlifting emerged as a competitive sport, further cementing the squat’s importance. The exercise became a key component of powerlifting competitions, along with the deadlift and bench press. Deadlifts The deadlift involves lifting a weight from the ground to hip level. Its roots can be traced back to ancient civilisations where lifting heavy objects was a part of daily life and military training. Like the squat, the deadlift was formalised as an exercise in the 20th century through the efforts of early strength athletes and weightlifters. The term “deadlift” refers to lifting a “dead” or stationary weight, as opposed to weights that are already in motion. Strongmen like Hermann Goerner demonstrated incredible feats of strength using deadlifts, showcasing the exercise’s potential for building immense power. Goerner, known for his grip strength and unconventional lifting methods, helped popularise the deadlift. Today, the deadlift remains a key lift in powerlifting competitions, known for its ability to target the posterior chain, including the hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and traps. Bench Press The bench press, a more modern addition to strength training, emerged in the early 20th century. While variations of pressing movements had been practiced for centuries, the bench press as we know it today began to take shape in the 1930s and 1940s. The bench press gained widespread popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to the rise of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Pioneers like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Reg Park showcased impressive chest development and pressing strength, inspiring countless individuals to incorporate the bench press into their routines. Today, the bench press is a fundamental component of most strength training programs, often seen as a benchmark of upper body strength. Is Deadlift Overrated? Busting the Myths Around the Big 3 The modern-day online fitness community truly shines when debating this topic, being its true-to-form dogmatic and argumentative self. Many preach that the only way to build a great physique is to squat, deadlift, and bench press. These Big 3 zealots believe you don’t deserve to be lifting if the Big 3 aren’t included within your routine. Some rather large claims exist when covering the Big 3 lifts: 1. Squatting Increases Testosterone and HGH (Human Growth Hormone) You’ll find many claims that the Big 3 lifts (not just squatting) increase testosterone, and if you don’t include them you’re wasting your time. The truth is, all intense physical activity increases testosterone levels. This generally occurs as a result of higher intensity and lactic acid build-up and a combination of activating multiple muscle groups (compound exercises). Squatting increases testosterone—so does a leg press, a chin-up, a dumbbell press, etc. There’s nothing magical about the Big 3 when hunting a specific testosterone or HGH boost. 2. You Can’t Build an Impressive Chest Without a Bench Press I’m about to rag on the bench press. Here’s a link to a great article I’m about to summarise (thoughts being totally aligned):The Truth About the Bench Press – Better Ways to Build Chest Essentially, the heavier you go, the greater the chance of the bench press transforming into a triceps exercise. When lowering the bar, you don’t lower enough to fully activate the whole chest (you can get lower with dumbbells). The bench press is far from a bad exercise; it’s just misunderstood. Vince Gironda (a guru in days gone by) hated the bench press for chest growth and believed there to be far superior exercises. If you want to get strong at the bench press, continue to bench press. You can build an impressive chest with dumbbells and (in my opinion—the real upper body squat exercise) parallel bar dips. If we venture back to Exercise 101 basics: if … Read more